The widespread adoption of portable computing devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, has resulted in a corresponding increase in the amount and types of electronic content available to users. This includes the providing of augmented reality (AR) content, where image data can be captured for a location and a computing device can render content such that the content appears, at least as displayed on a screen of the device, that the content exists in that physical location. As the device moves or changes orientation, the view of the content can change accordingly, being rendered as if the content corresponds to actual three-dimensional objects being captured by the camera of the device at the appropriate location and angle. Conventional approaches to rendering AR content produce acceptable results with respect to horizontal surfaces, but are less successful in attempting to locate blank walls or other optically challenging surfaces that lack distinct features detectable by an optical sensor.